thijs,

I didn't say you were the same as Genova, I said that the man is the poster boy for your movement. I also indicated that there's "too many like him" involved in your movement, and they seem to be the driving force within, not the real people who would rally, and peacefully speak out against the war. If you decide that's an indictment of what you believe, it isn't my choosing - it's your own. I never said it. If you are against people like Genova why don't you speak out? I have spoken out as to my desire to see Bush replaced in the next election. I don't hide that fact. Where is your outrage for a statement like Genova made?

But, on the issue of the 3/4 years of death at the hands of Hussein's henchmen, you did make that statement. You indicated it would take him that long to kill as many people as would die as collateral damage in this war. But the question isn't just the time frame of the war, or even the 3/4 year window you imposed. The problem is beyond that, with Saddam, and eventually his son Udey, who may be worse than his father. It goes not only to the deaths of people inside Iraq, but the support of terrorism, and it's repercussions as well. How many would die because of our failure to act now?

It's easy to sit in an ivory tower of self-righteousness when it comes to war, and say how evil it is. It's easy to wash your hands of the matters dealing with the deaths of thousands at the hands of a dictator, and say "it isn't our business." It's easy, and it's fashionable, in pseudo-intellectual circles, because there isn't any concern for the reality of human life, it's just rhetoric, and as long as the parade of deaths doesn't touch home, it's someone else's problem.

On 9-11, the truth of what is happening around the world came crashing into the lives of America. It was easy for us to turn a deaf ear to the suffering and pain that surrounded us in the world. We'd just send money, and hope it would all go away, or at least it wouldn't be visited on us, as a people. Our little world, where we lived safely in a cocoon, came crashing down around our ears, and it's something that we now share with the world. We have no choice but to be part of the resolve, not adding to the problems, like Russia, France, Germany, and Syria.

Your statement about the "angry crowd" miffed me. The people were concerned that the U.S. might attack Saddam's men in the Ali Mosque. When they were assured that wouldn't happen, the problem was resolved. They are concerned about their history, and the roots of their religion, yet you turn it into a political statement against the U.S. Obviously you fail to recognize the difference, because it wouldn't be in your best interests. Your statement should have told the entire truth, not just a propagandized version which you threw out, to make a point. The fact is, the Shia want the Saddam men out of there as badly as we do. But, since there are those who would make the whole issue political, they will probably end up blowing the Mosque up, and go up in their own destruction. Of course, if that happens, people on your side of the issue will blame it on the U.S., because it fits your political needs.

Wolf